


Two Old Friends Say Goodbye

by sauciemel



Series: Sauciemel & Pdawg9021 [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 15:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12256902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sauciemel/pseuds/sauciemel
Summary: This story is one I wrote way back in 2011 so any typos or mis spelling is down to it not being beta read. I am moving my stories over from Live Journal to here.





	Two Old Friends Say Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> This story is one I wrote way back in 2011 so any typos or mis spelling is down to it not being beta read. I am moving my stories over from Live Journal to here.

Jack was walking out of the chapel with Gwen and Rex. Ester was amazing and they could not have succeed without her. Her sacrifice would not be in vain if Jack had anything to do with it.  
  
Then the shots rang out and Rex was hit. It happened so fast. Jack thought he was losing another member of his team. He couldn't take it again.   
  
Little did he know that it would be so much worse.  
  
Rex was now like him, unable to die. It was because of him. His blood had imprisoned someone else to this tortured life. Rex would watch as all of his family and friends die of old age and he would have to go on forever.  
  
It was too much for Jack. He had to run. He had done it again. He had ruined another life. His daughter's life, now Rex was doomed to this existence.  
  
He took one last look at Gwen and Rex and ran off and that is when he saw HIM. He ran towards him and when he was close enough, he pushed him hard.  
  
"WHERE WERE YOU?" Jack screamed at him.   
  
\---  
  
The Doctor had just left Sarah and Luke with a wave. He didn’t have much time left.  
  
He didn’t know why he had gone to see Jack or Gwen...after everything he had done to Jack. But then he saw them. His hearts beat faster when he saw Jack.  
  
Then in the blink of an eye Jack was in front of him and holding him. The Doctor shoved Jack off and just shook his head, then turned and headed back to the TARDIS... It had been a bad idea coming here, he had to get away.   
  
\---  
  
Jack followed the Doctor. "Oh, you are not getting away that easy. You have some explaining to do."   
  
The Doctor didn't break his stride as he got nearer the TARDIS and snapped his fingers. "Stay away Jack." he said gently.  
  
Jack sped up as he saw the TARDIS doors open. He did not want to ride on the outside of the TARDIS again, but he was not letting the Doctor leave without talking to him.  
  
"No, no, no you don't...you are not running off again." Jack got right behind the Doctor.   
  
The Doctor felt Jack breathing down his neck and heard him. He had been wrong to come here. "Please Jack..." he got onto the TARDIS and turned to face Jack, he shook his head and went to shut the doors.   
  
Jack placed his on the door and looked at the Doctor. In that moment all of his emotions of what had just happened and what he had to do to stop the 456. This man could have stopped it all with the snap of his fingers and he didn't even show up.  
  
The anger grew again within Jack as he raised his fist and punched the Doctor in the face as hard as he could as he stepped into the TARDIS.   
  
The Doctor stumbled with the force of the punch from Jack. He took a few steps back and turned his back on Jack as he walked up the ramp he threw his coat over the coral strut. He could feel the radiation in his body he winced as he felt it.   
  
He moved up to the console. "Go Jack...please...I need to...just leave." the Doctor's voice was so gentle.   
  
Jack followed the Doctor into the TARDIS shaking his hand out. He had hit the Doctor really hard. He closed the door.  
  
"You are not going to just stand back and then leave without explaining why you let all this happen" Jack yelled as he walked up to the console. "You are not playing the Timelord this time. You will stand there and tell me why you did not help...Ester...my grandson." Jack felt his eyes fill with tears as an image of his grandson dying replayed in his mind's eye.  
  
The Doctor started to push buttons all the while keeping his back to Jack. How could he tell him he was the cause of his Grandson Steven's death and Ester's.   
  
"Jack...I cant...I just cant...please leave...get out." he said fighting all the emotions he felt inside. He had more people to see before he died.   
  
Jack just followed the Doctor around the console. "Doctor, I am not leaving until I hear why...I had to kill my own Grandson to stop the 456...DID YOU HEAR THAT DOCTOR, MY OWN GRANDSON!" Jack yelled at him as he grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face him finally.  
  
Jack looked into his eyes, "DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT? OR...WAIT...Did you know that I was going to have to do that and you chose to let it happen...something more important like seeing the waterfalls on Visasentory?"   
  
The Doctor looked deep into the piercing blue eyes of Jack. "Get off me Jack....and go...I am sorry for Steven's death...I truly am but GO!" the Doctor shoved Jack off again. He had to get him out the TARDIS.... why had she let Jack in. He grabbed at his mallet and hit the metal circles as he put in the co-ordinates of where he wanted to go.   
  
"Sorry...that is all you can say is sorry. I had to murder my own grandson while my daughter, his mother watched and all you can say is sorry." Jack spat at the Doctor. He knew that the Doctor could be cold at times, he needed to be but this was too much even for Jack.  
  
Jack grabbed the Doctor hard this time and held his lapel this time as he punched the Doctor again in the face. He let another punch fly and drew back his hand.   
  
The Doctor felt and heard the bone in his nose crunch. "Happy now?" he said stumbling away from Jack as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He moved the broken bone back and wiped the blood away.  
  
"It was a fixed point Jack...." the Doctor said and then adding in his mind 'that I caused the change that became the fixed point where Jack had to kill his grandson.’  
  
He pocketed the handkerchief as he looked at Jack. "Leave..." he pointed to the door.   
  
Jack stared at the Doctor as he seemed to just heal in front of his eyes, he whispered, "How did you do that? With your nose."   
  
The Doctor looked Jack. "Am dying Jack." he said. "So if you could...well just..." he nodded to the door. "Got people to see before I die."   
  
Jack looked at his old friend, "Dying...you look fine...no golden light...you are just trying to avoid the subject, where were you?...I am not leaving until I hear everything. Your meetings will have to wait..." Jack crossed his arms. "Now, Doctor I ask you again, why did YOU not help with the 456?" Jack spat at him.   
  
The Doctor looked at Jack's ‘I am not going anywhere stance.’ "I am dying Jack...and I..." the Doctor looked at Jack and then he felt part of his body shut down. "Argh!" he grabbed onto the console in pain. "No...not yet." he said through gritted teeth   
  
Jack instinctively went to grab the Doctor to see if he was OK. He took a step towards the Doctor and stopped himself.   
  
He stood there, "Is this why you couldn't help with the 456 or The Miracle Day, you were battling something else and are now dying? Why can't you just regenerate?"   
  
The Doctor looked at Jack. "I DONT WANT TO....ALL THIS...YOUR PAIN I CAUSED IT THE 456, MIRACLE DAY ALL OF IT...HAPPY? THERE I TOLD YOU NOW LEAVE!" The Doctor screamed in Jack's face as the pain receded for now.   
  
Jack looked at the Doctor, "What are you talking about, how did you cause the 456? I caused that in the 60's by giving...giving…"   
  
Jack could not bring himself to say what he had done all those years ago. He had given in to the 456 back then and this gave them the window to come back and demand the children. He knew it was not the Doctor's fault that the 456 came back to Earth. It was Jack's fault and his alone. He just needed to know why he did not come back to help when the Earth was going to give 10 percent of their children to these monsters.   
  
"Yes but...after I last saw you Jack...after the Daleks and Davros and...." he looked down at the floor and back up. "...Rose I was on my own...long story Jack....I...I am the Last TimeLord Jack ....Me...so I took it upon myself to change a fixed point." he said as he remembered saving Adelaide. "But it went wrong...lots of things did, she took her own life." The Doctor walked over and sat on the jump seat.  
  
"Something changed in me Jack...I went to far. I became TimeLord Victorious I went to Poil Nor, where the 456 come from...they are Polinorians. I thought what they were doing with the kids....was wrong."   
  
The Doctor looked up at Jack. "It wasn’t your fault you didn’t know what you were doing back then....I took the kids to New Earth to be looked after...I didn’t know that as soon as I left the 456 headed for Earth...your Grandson....Ianto...I caused it." he said with his eyes welled up.   
  
"I wanted to come to Earth but the TARDIS wouldn’t let me...it wasn’t until after the Master and Miracle day I finally saw what I had done...I caused them both."   
  
Jack listened to the Doctor. He then walked to the jump seat and sat next to the Doctor.   
  
Jack looked at the Doctor, "No you...it was not your fault...you went and saved them. I didn't even try to save them, I just led those kids to their deaths. If I would have fought back then...they may not have even got those kids and they would have moved on...and Steven...Steven would still be here." Jack put his head in his hands as he cried for his grandson.   
  
The Doctor's hearts ached looking at his good friend in pain. "I am so sorry Jack...but you only did what you thought was right...I just did it because I could but...I am the reason Miracle Day happened. I told them about you Jack." the Doctor said.  
  
Jack looked at the Doctor, "Told who what? Miracle Day was not your fault, it was the family...the family and me again...it was my blood that started Miracle Day."   
  
"I was the one who told them about your blood." The Doctor said as he got up and leant on the console. "It was well before I went to face the music of the Ood....I was...well bored for a bit after having had some fun with good Queen Bess...no wonder she wanted to cut my head off...any how, there is this berry on Gallifrey a bright orange one. TimeLords used it to make a fine wine, its very intoxicating to a TimeLord."  
  
The Doctor ruffled his hair. "I have some of those berries on board...and well I dont get drunk on human stuff... this stuff its lethal to TimeLords...so I made some of the wine...and no you cant have some...it only works on TimeLords." the Doctor pointed at Jack who was giving him a look.  
  
The Doctor smiled and little and then took a deep breath.  
  
"I then took the Gallifrayean wine and a bottle of Venusian Brandy with me... picked a time and went to play poker with some people. After a while the drink loosened tongues and these 3 men got chatting about this magic man...a godlike man who couldn’t die...no matter how they tried."  
  
The Doctor looked at Jack. "That was you...I was drunk Jack I jokingly said. 'Bet his name is Jack.' they said 'yes, Jack Harkness.' then I made the mistake Jack. I said.. 'oh he isnt god like....its just his blood...he was touched by a wolf. Am so sorry Jack....I gave them the information....that it was your blood." he looked down as his feet as another surge of pain hit him and he fell to the floor on his hands and knees.   
  
Jack jumped up and went to the Doctor on the floor. "Doc, you OK?" Jack went and helped him up and sat him on the jump seat.  
  
Jack looked at the Doctor, "It's OK...there have been a lot things I have done that I regret while I was drunk. I should have stopped them back in the 30's. It seems like I do something that puts the Earth in danger every thirty years...I wonder what danger the Earth will have to go through due to something I did in the 90's." Jack chuckled a little as he looked at the Doctor.   
  
"Am fine Jack..." The Doctor shrugged him off as he stood. "Who knows...but you have to go Jack...and well you may not blame me but I do...I should died twice over now Jack and am still here...but no more...it ends tonight...I cant do it anymore." The Doctor said walking away from his friend.   
  
Jack followed the Doctor, "What do you mean, 'it ends tonight'? What is happening? And why have you not regenerated yet? The last time it was a few minutes. We have been in here for at least 10 minutes already."   
  
"Look Jack.... am stopping it ok...am not going to regenerate this time ok...I have had it. All the people who have died because of me, and..." The Doctor looked at Jack. "Rose...look what I did to her...I should have died in the TimeWar, the year that never was Jack...the things he did...you know you saw some of them....but the last straw was what just happened...I put the whole of the human race in danger. They are better off without me...but I want to say goodbye Jack...that's why I was there today....I have three more trips and then I am going to die...not regenerate...no handy spare hand to siphon off into." he said calmly and coldly to Jack.   
  
"NO DOC YOU CAN'T...YOU HAVE TO REGENERATE." Jack went over to him and looked into the Doctor's eyes, "The Universe needs you. You have saved the whole Universe more times than years I have lived. You have to remember that."  
  
Jack walked away from the Doctor and turned back to him. "Listen, I know you have taken this all to heart, or hearts, on what has happened to me, Martha, Donna and Rose. They were not your fault and we all knew that you did everything you could to help and tried to prevent the events from going forward. I have been trying to get past Steven and now Rex. You were just the next easiest target. Please...talk to Martha. She is with Mickey in Scotland. We can go talk to her right now and she will say the same the thing I just did."   
  
The Doctor looked at Jack. "NO JACK...am sorry but no....this ends...no more deaths...not in my name...and Martha will be fine...she has...well she will be fine...Sarah...Sarah will go on protecting Earth from her little attic in Ealing...but...Rose." the Doctor turned and walked towards the doors of the TARDIS if Jack wasn’t going to go then he could.  
  
There was a rumble.  
  
"Great...now my own ship wont let me out." The Doctor kicked the door. "OW...." then he swore in Gallifrayean.   
  
Jack ran to the Doctor and took his shoulder, "Doc, No...Rose knew what she was doing and there was no where else she wanted to be than with you. And I know that she understands what you had to do."   
  
"GET OFF OF ME FREAK...YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ROSE WANTED YOU WOULDNT BE THE FREAK YOU ARE IF NOT FOR HER OR ME!!! SO BACK OFF!" he snarled at Jack...the fire of the darkness within still there. "I never told her Jack...twice I had the chance I never told her...I cant watch the people I lo.... no more Jack....LET ME OUT!" he kicked at the TARDIS door when the rotor kicked into life. "No...no, no no." he looked up at the Rotor then ran up to it. "I want to go here." he went to set the co-ordinates and got a shock.   
  
Jack watched the Doctor from the closed TARDIS door, "It looks like I am not the only one here that wants you to regenerate. I am not leaving and she is not letting you out or go anywhere. We are going to be here for a while...and as you know I have all the time in the world." Jack said as he leaned against one of the coral struts.   
  
The Doctor had it...it was his life and up to him what he did with it. He stormed up to Jack and grabbed him by the lapels. "You think you know me HARKNESS...you dont...no one does...so dont pretend you do...you and this ship will watch me die. I cant do suicide its not the TimeLord way but each TimeLord can chose whether or not to regenerate. You saw that the last time when I healed and made that metacrisis... that....THING IS LIVING THE LIFE I WANT JACK BUT I CANT EVER HAVE IT!!!" he shoved Jack into the coral strut. "So watch me die." he said and walked away. "You..." he ran his hand over the console and spoke to her in his native tongue and the sound of the door unlocking can be heard.   
  
Jack heard the door unlock and he looked at the Doctor, "FINE...IF YOU WANT TO DIE THEN DIE...BUT YOU WILL NOT DO IT ALONE...YOU HEAR ME?!"  
  
Jack walked up to him and went right into his face, "I HAVE WATCHED A LOT OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS DIE OVER THE YEARS...SO I CAN TAKE IT. I DON'T CARE, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO THEN I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY AND THE TARDIS." Jack stepped back, "If I have to tie you up, I will but DOCTOR YOU WILL NOT BE ALONE WHEN YOU MOVE ON. I will be here with you and holding you."   
  
The Doctor looked at Jack. "You watched your friends and family?" he spoke so gentle and quiet. Then glaring at Jack. "YOU DIDNT STAND AND WATCH AS A DALEK SHIP BLEW UP THE HOUSE WITH YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IN...STAND AND WATCH YOUR PLANET BURN AND LIVE WITH THE GUILT THAT YOU CAUSED IT." he bellowed at Jack and his voice bounced off each nook and cranny of the TARDIS. "Yes I met Rose and she helped to heal me...but then I lost her Jack...do you have any idea how that felt...not her die but her taken...no RIPPED FROM ME on another parallel world...50 years Jack...I spend trying to find a way through to her...and all I got was 2 minutes....2 minutes...no touching nothing...and then The Master."   
  
The Doctor turned away from Jack and looked into the monitor. "The year that never was...you dont know half the things he wanted to do...that I begged him not to do....he did them to me Jack." He looked back. "All the people who died in my name and for what...Humans...they are better without me...I should never have came here or stole this tin can."  
  
With those last two words the TARDIS rumbled and shook violently.  
  
"Doctor you think you are the only one that has lost their family in a horrible way. My brother was kidnapped and tortured most of his life. He then spent the rest of his life planning to torturing me." Jack looked at the Doctor as he thought of his brother, "And the thing is, I deserved it and so much more...I should have protected him. Of anyone in this Universe, I know how you feel...I have hurt so many people. I have been around for a century and a half. I think you need to be reminded of all of the people and planets you have saved with this tin box." Jack said as he went to the console and then to the monitor. He hit some buttons and all the planets and people that just the 10th Doctor had saved came up.  
  
Jack patted the console, "Thank you girl."   
  
The Doctor looked at the images, his hearts heavy and his eyes full of every emotion thinkable the Doctor made the choice. With a huge sigh he walked over to Jack. "I am glad I met you...Jack...and who better to look after this old girl...am a tired old man Jack...like I said to another old man....some times a TimeLord lives too long." The Doctor then hugged Jack and whispered into his ear.  
  
The TARDIS hummed.  
  
The Doctor stood back from Jack and looked at him. "Look after her." he whispered as another surge hit him....they were getting closer now...his body dying faster.  
  
Jack looked at the Doctor, "What was that you just whispered in my ear?" Jack looked worried at the Doctor, he didn't know what to do to change his mind. The Doctor was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Jack leaned against the console as he put his head on top of the console and closed his eyes.   
  
The Doctor walked over to Jack and pulled him up to look at him.   
  
"I told you my name Jack...my true name and I know you now understand I am doing this...but this old girl here...she deserves to go on and who better than you...Mr Immortality." he smiled a little. "I am tired Jack...so tired now..." he whispered.   
  
Jack looked at the Doctor as tears filled his eyes as he realized what the Doctor had said to him. He took him into a big hug. Jack cried as he held the Doctor. "Please Doctor...you can't. I need you...you are the only one that will live like me...the only one that will be here with me."   
  
"I am sorry Jack...but I am not needed anymore...the universe has you... the Earth has Sarah Jane Smith, Martha, Gwen and yes even Rhys. My time has come...time for the TimeWar to end...am the last man standing." he kissed Jack's forehead. "I love you Jack..." he smiled and walked to the bottom of the ramp. "I'm ready...goodbye Jack... bye old girl..." he took a breath. "Goodbye Rose."   
  
The TARDIS shook and a Golden light built around the base of the Rotor. In the next second, the light shot up and then in an arc it landed in front of the Doctor.  
  
Slowly a figure came out of the golden light, it was The Bad Wolf. The figure that took the likeness of Rose was golden and had the look of a spirit. She looked at the Doctor, "But what if I am not ready to say Goodbye to you?"   
  
The Doctor looked up at the golden light. "Rose...no no...how?" he stepped up the ramp. "The Bad Wolf...please...I know you dont want me to go, but I am not needed anymore. I cause trouble, wherever I go its there, too many people have died....you were their on Gallifrey." he got closer to the image. Letting his emotions show to her....the ship he loved so much and the woman he loved. "Give me a reason to stay..." he reached up and touched her cheek. "...there is no reason for me too that's what you took this form....Let me go." he asked.  
  
The Bad Wolf put her hand on the Doctors as he rested his on her cheek. "You are needed and you always will be." Bad Wolf said to the Doctor. She then walked right up to him and smiled at him. "You will see now." with that The Bad Wolf kissed the Doctor. She transferred some of the Doctor's future time line to him. He could see all the planets and people that he would save and how he would fight the Daleks again.  
  
She then broke the kiss and stood before him, "This is why you can not say Goodbye and you must Regenerate."   
  
The Doctor stared at her, she had shown him what was ahead. He looked at her and silently he nodded his head. "Ok...ok...I will stay....will you?" he asked gently still feeling the kiss on his lips.   
  
The Bad Wolf smiled at the Doctor, "I will be always be with you right here." She touched his chest. "I love you Doctor and I always will." She then slowly moved away from him and to the console.   
  
The Doctor watched her go. "I love you too." he said gently. He looked at Jack. He had been so stupid... "Can you forgive an old man?" he asked Jack.   
  
The Bad Wolf smiled at the Doctor and Jack and she disappeared in a bright golden light and it shot back into the TARDIS rotor.  
  
Jack smiled at the Doctor, "It will be a change for me to forgive you." Jack went over and hugged the Doctor, "And 456 was not your fault and I understand why you couldn't come to help. And Miracle Day would have happened with or without you. I just made these mistakes and I played the price with Steven and now Rex. But I will carry on like you have with everything that you have been through." Jack gave the Doctor a sad smile.   
  
The Doctor hugged Jack tight. "We are two old men who are wounded to the core... one day I hope we will be fixed...and there is someone out there for us all Jack." The Doctor stepped back from Jack and grabbed his coat. "Whether it a friend or a lover...someone will help us on our way...now...fancy a farewell drink...I will pay?" The Doctor grinned that big smile of his as he put the time rotor to work.   
  
Jack looked at his old friend, "Yes, I would love that...so you will be regenerating, right?"   
  
"Yes Jack...I will be regenerating I promise...you will see this face once more...now go bag us a seat...I need to re-programme my co-ordinates...I will be right out." he smiled.  
The Bad Wolf had helped him a little in his little reward, he knew when the regeneration came she would feel it as much as him...she would be damaged too.  
  
Jack smiled, "Great, see you in a few." Jack then walked out of the TARDIS.   
  
The Doctor set everything up for the next 3 visits. "Thank you old girl...I can be thick-headed sometimes." he ran his hand across her console and got a low hum.  
  
"Ok...let go have one drink with Jack and then....finish my reward." he walked down the console and out the doors of the TARDIS.  
  
\---  
  
As he walked into the bar he saw a young man, a man he hadn’t seen in a while. The man walked over and was nearing Jack. "Oh you clever girl...he needs this more than he needs me."   
  
The Doctor dug in his coat for a pen and paper and wrote on it. He then caught the attention of the barman on his way back.   
  
"Excuse me...that handsome man at the bar." The Doctor said.  
  
"In the Army coat?" the barman said.  
  
"Yes, give this to him please and tell him its from the man over there...as in me, that's all you need to say." The Doctor handed the man the note.  
  
"Ok sir."  
  
"Thank you." The Doctor said as he looked over at his best friend with his deep brown eyes for one last time.   
  
\---  
  
Jack sat looking at his drink thinking about Steven, his daughter, and Rex.  
  
Then the barman handed him a note. Jack opened and read the note. He then looked up and saw the doctor across the bar he then knew this was it.  
  
As the Doctor looked at the person next to him he looked at Alonso, saluted the Doctor and started a conversation with Alonso.   
  
\---  
  
The Doctor saluted Jack and then got one back as Jack started to talk with Midshipman Frame.  
  
The Doctor knew Jack would be fine, as would he...he didn’t want to change. He loved this version of him, so full of life and fun. He sighed as he walked into the TARDIS.  
  
She hummed to him.  
  
"He will be fine...and you knew that." he said as he snapped his fingers and the door shut. He walked up to console set the time rotor into life and smiled. "Onwards old girl."  
  
 **THE END.**


End file.
